Ex-footballer jailed for sexually abusing young girl in Thailand

An ex-footballer who recorded videos of himself sexually assaulting a young girl in Thailand has been jailed for four years.

Paedophile Ian Heddle, 61, was found to have stored 272,936 indecent images of children alongside 4,001 videos after being snared by police.

Heddle was a midfielder for a number of Scottish clubs in the 1980s and 1990s, including Dunfermline Athletic and St Johnstone.

Katrina Parkes, Scotland’s procurator fiscal for high court sexual offending, said: “British nationals who sexually abuse children abroad will face justice here.

“Ian Heddle is a predatory individual who poses a danger to young children.”

Heddle, originally from Dunfermline in Fife, was arrested at Edinburgh Airport in February 2023 as he attempted to fly back to Asia, where he had been working as a crane operator.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said police received intelligence that email and MeWe accounts linked to Heddle had viewed and uploaded child abuse material to the internet.

When interviewed, Heddle admitted officers would find thousands of images and videos on his hard drives and that they were categorised into folders.

Three videos discovered on his iPhone 12 showed Heddle abusing a young child – aged around eight – while she slept and carrying out sexual acts in her presence.

The clips were date stamped for dates in September and October 2019 and were, according to the phone’s GPS, recorded in Changwat Chon Buri, Kingdom of Thailand.

Heddle’s facial features were not identifiable in the videos, however his hands were visible and showed him wearing a distinctive thin wedding band.

During a second police interview in September 2023, Heddle admitted he was the one abusing the girl.

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Police Scotland said the National Crime Agency (NCA) liaised with Royal Thai Police to ensure the safeguarding of the child in Thailand and obtain a witness statement.

Duncan Burrage, international liaison officer with the NCA, said: “Offenders like Ian Heddle think that they won’t get caught by travelling to the other side of the world to conduct child abuse.

“However, the NCA has the capabilities to identify and disrupt them.

“Borders are not a barrier; we work closely with our partners in the UK and overseas to ensure that Britons committing child abuse offences abroad are prosecuted and vulnerable children are safeguarded, wherever they are in the world.”

At the High Court in Glasgow last month, Heddle admitted sexually assaulting the child between September and October 2019.

He pleaded guilty to a further two charges of possessing and making indecent images of children between August 2019 and February 2023.

Heddle was handed a six-year extended sentence on Tuesday, with four years in custody and two years on licence once released back into the community.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

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Detective Inspector Adrian Ure, of Police Scotland’s National Child Abuse Investigations Unit (NCAIU), said: “Heddle’s behaviour was deplorable with no thought to the young child he sexually assaulted or the victims depicted in the images and videos he was viewing.

“His sentencing sends a clear message that anyone found guilty of these offences will be brought to justice.”

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